IRVING BERLIN APPEARS AS HIMSELF IN THE HIT 1943 FILM, THIS IS THE ARMY, WHICH RAISED $5 MILLION FOR THE ARMY EMERGENCY RELIEF FUND
 
IRVING BERLIN. Magazine Photograph inscribed and signed: "To Clyde all good wishes/Irving Berlin". B/w, 6¾x7¾ overall, image 6¾x6¼ (one surface). Shown in the 1943 film, This Is The Army, which was made with the backing of Jack Warner. Photograph is captioned: "His show, 'This is the Army,' will make $5,000,000 for Army Emergency Relief. He is a successful businessman, father, husband, and composer of smash-hit songs, yet the job of being Irving Berlin has been no part of a cinch." This photograph preceded an article, titled "Happiest Man on Earth", by John Chapman (only title and part of Chapman's name are visible). In the film version of This is the Army, Berlin reprised his Broadway role as himself, belting out a show-stealing rendition of the song, "Oh, How I Hate to Get Up in the Morning". This Is the Army was one of the top-grossing movies of 1943, and all of the nearly ten million dollars in profits from the film were donated to Army Emergency Relief Fund. Berlin was billed as Sergeant Irving Berlin in the opening night credits of the original version, which ran on Broadway from July 4-September 26, 1942. The musical, a reworking of his WWI "barracks musical", Yip Yip Yaphank, was later performed by GIs for military personnel stationed around the world. Irving Berlin (1888-1989), born Israel Isidore Baline in Tumen, Siberia, Russia, was such a force in American music that in 1924, when Berlin was just 37, songwriter Jerome Kern gave this assessment: "Irving Berlin has no place in American music. He is American music." If the only song he ever wrote was "God Bless America", made famous by Kate Smith, Berlin would be an important part of American music. But Berlin wrote more than 900 songs, including the classics "A Pretty Girl is Like a Melody", "There's No Business Like Show Business", "Always", "Easter Parade" and "Blue Skies", 19 musicals, including Annie Get Your Gun and Call Me Madam, and the scores of 18 movies, including Holiday Inn, which featured his 1942 Academy Award-winning song, "White Christmas". Lightly creased with folds, not at signature, horizontal fold at uniform. Chipped at lower left corner, ½-inch tear at lower left touches the "H" in title. Light show through of type on verso (not windowed to show verso). Overall, fine condition. Framed in the Gallery of History style: 13½x21¼.